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EPA Completes Minneapolis Arsenic Cleanup

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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has completed an arsenic cleanup project in south Minneapolis.

The EPA says it finished digging Sept. 21 on the last of 472 properties. The agency targeted 486 properties for cleanup and got access to 97 percent of that total.

Since 2004, the EPA has been cleaning up arsenic contamination in south Minneapolis yards. The latest phase began in September 2009.

Some 45,000 tons of contaminated soil were removed during that phase, which targeted yards with lesser amounts of arsenic.

The contamination was traced to a former pesticide plant. The EPA says there will be no more digging, but some things will have to be done next spring, including checking properties that were cleaned this fall without enough time for new grass to grow.